Qena , Egypt -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In a deserted playground a few hundred miles south of Cairo , 13-year-old Asmaa Ashraf fiddles with a broken rusted slide . She is waiting listlessly for a lesson with her math tutor .

The bright-eyed teenager lives in a sepia-toned village in the province of Qena , a place of rural poverty and neglect . But she has big dreams about education . She wants to open a school one day .

`` At my school , we 'll learn , '' she says , brushing her hands longingly over the slide . `` Teachers will show up and we 'll be allowed to ask questions . We 'll be allowed to draw with color . ''

Such aspirations , however , amount to fantasy for most youth in a country still struggling to land on its feet after being turned completely upside down .

Two and a half years after the country 's uprising began , Egypt 's fledgling democracy is stillborn , stubbornly stuck between its past and future . And as the government struggles to wade through the country 's protracted political problems , Egypt 's festering education system is orphaned -- even though , with a growing youth population , it 's key to the country 's future .

In the World Economic Forum 's latest report on global competitiveness , Egypt ranked near the bottom -- 131st out of 144 countries -- for quality of primary education . Egypt 's literacy rate is 66 % , according to a 2011 United Nations report . Meanwhile , a report by London think tank Chatham House says just $ 129 a year is spent on each Egyptian student ; the United States , for example , spends 40 times as much .

The situation is worst in regions far from the capital , and in Upper Egypt , where more than half the population is under 29 .

Many schools look more like rank penitentiaries rather than hubs of learning . Students and teachers seem to be on the verge of exhaustion rather than bursting with inspiration .

And forget technology . Desks and a stable electricity supply are luxuries .

`` We did n't have enough desks last year , '' recalls Asmaa 's 12-year-old neighbor , Omnia . `` So most of us just sat on the floor . We only get a little paper , but my mom found this , '' she said , holding up a small , faded `` Hannah Montana '' notebook . The American pop culture reference is lost on her .

To make up for the gaps in education , millions of middle-class Egyptian families spend a large part of their income -- sometimes as much as 25 % -- on private tutoring . It 's impossible to know how much money is spent in all , but some estimates put the total at $ 1 billion a year .

Public school teachers rarely make more than $ 300 a month . More than a few of them say they teach the bare minimum in class so that they can earn more from the same students in private tutoring sessions .

`` There are too many issues to deal with , '' said one 32-year-old teacher in Asmaa 's village . `` I have kids of my own I 'm struggling to take care for . '' He says he gives three hours of private tutoring in the evening and does mechanical work on the side .

For parents with any hope that their children will be better off , investing in education is essential . Egypt 's final secondary school exams are a rite of passage for students . Their scores chart their future . If they do n't do well , they wo n't get a place in college .

The status quo is even more somber for Egypt 's women . According to a recent World Bank report , the illiteracy rate for young people in Upper Egypt is 17 % , higher than the national average of 11 % , and the illiteracy rates for females is 24 % , almost twice that of males . Also , 70 % of young women in Upper Egypt are jobless .

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Politicians , whether they 're from the ruling Muslim Brotherhood or the opposition , agree that educational reform is needed . But they quickly fall silent when pushed to articulate plans . One politician said the country simply has `` bigger fish to fry , '' with a controversial new constitution and still no full , functioning parliament .

But with unemployment at staggering rates -- 33 % for men age 20-24 and 53 % for women in the same age -- Egypt has a highly combustible pool of frustrated and disenfranchised youth in danger of becoming a lost generation .

`` This is a generation that desperately needs to learn how to critically think , to learn how to be in the 21st century , '' said Malak Zalouk , director of the Middle East Institute for Higher Education at the American University in Cairo . `` Mubarak 's regime trained students to be loyal citizens . And now , despite a revolution for dignity ... there is none . ''

It sounds like an almost hopeless picture . However , as Egypt 's public education system founders , a few innovative ideas have emerged .

This year , a few Egyptian entrepreneurs have launched Nafham , a Web-based startup that features crowd-sourced educational videos . Nafham , which means `` We understand '' in Arabic , hopes to provide an alternative -- a virtual classroom -- for struggling Egyptian families . It divides the Egyptian public school curriculum into lessons that can be explained in 5 - to 15-minute videos , covering all lessons mandated by the government curriculum .

Since the website went live in October , Nafham 's staff of teachers created around 4,900 videos , while 1,000 videos were crowd-sourced -- reviewed and approved by the staff . By late May , Nafham 's YouTube channel had more than 1 million views .

For the 65 % of Egyptians who do n't have Internet access -- those who stand to gain the most from the service -- Nafham says it hopes to form group viewings in some villages . It is also in talks with some companies to offer USBs with Internet access to groups throughout the countryside .

Another innovative initiative is Teach for Egypt , a start-up created by Nada Ramadan , a 24-year-old Egyptian who 's a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington . Based on the Teach for America model , Ramadan plans to recruit ambitious college graduates -- most from within the Egyptian community and diaspora -- to commit to a two-year service in which they are trained extensively and placed in underprivileged schools .

Ramadan says she 's running into problems , however , while trying to implement her idea . The bureaucracy in Egypt leaves little room for productivity , let alone creativity and innovation . Still , she continues to push on .

`` We could all stand around and protest that the government is failing us , or we could go out and offer the solutions , '' she said . `` So , that 's what we 're trying to do . ''

But until those solutions are offered , Asmaa -- and a whole generation in waiting -- will continue to linger near broken slides , daydreaming about the future .

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While Egypt struggles to wade through political problems , its education system suffers

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Literacy rates are low and unemployment is high , especially among females

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Many middle-class families are spending a large part of their income on private tutoring

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A few start-up companies have emerged , however , to address the education deficit